New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal hit out at outgoing Delhi chief minister Atishi after she danced following her convincing win from the Kalkaji seat in the Delhi assembly elections even though her Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) party was routed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Taking to X, Maliwal, once a close associate of AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, posted: “What kind of shameless display is this? The party lost, all the big leaders lost and Atishi Marlena is celebrating like this.” She also shared a video of a jubilant Atishi with AAP supporters.
ये कैसा बेशर्मी का प्रदर्शन है ? पार्टी हार गई, सब बड़े नेता हार गये और Atishi Marlena ऐसे जश्न मना रही हैं ?? pic.twitter.com/zbRvooE6FY
— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) February 8, 2025
Atishi secured victory for second straight time
Atishi secured victory from the Kalkaji seat for the second consecutive time, defeating BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri, a former MP, by a margin of 3,521 votes. She bagged 52,154 votes while Bidhuri received 48,633 votes with Congress’ Alka Lamba in the third spot with 4,392 votes.
Atishi is one of the few AAP ministers and senior leaders who secured a victory, as most of the party’s prominent figures, including Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Satyendar Jain, had to stare at defeat.
The AAP’s seat tally saw a sharp decline to 22 in the 70-member Delhi assembly from a high of 62, while the BJP won 48 seats. The Congress failed to open its account for the third straight time.
‘Kejriwal is arrogant’
Swati Maliwal, who has become one of the AAP’s most vocal critics in recent times, also held Arvind Kejriwal responsible for the party’s loss in the assembly elections, dubbing him as “arrogant”. She wrote on X, “Ahankar Ravan ka bhi nahi bacha tha…”.
She reportedly told NDTV that she felt that if a person gets extremely arrogant and stops working for the people, then people teach that man a lesson. “That is exactly what has happened with Arvind Kejriwal today.” She added that Kejriwal does not believe in internal democracy.
It was in May last year that Maliwal alleged that Bibhav Kumar, a close associate of Kejriwal, assaulted her at the Chief Minister’s official residence. She had alleged that during a visit to discuss urgent issues, she was “beaten badly” in the drawing room while Kejriwal was present in the house.
